Last Day, but it's about Her

On Tuesday, my mom, two of my sister in laws, and my friend came to help clean and pack up the last of the house. It was a pretty productive day and I was grateful for the help. By the end of the day, we had most of our belongings packed away in the back room, the house was empty and clean, our suitcases stood in an empty dining room, and we had said our goodbyes to our neighbours. The next day was suppose to be pretty relaxing as we finished up and headed to our parents' place.

It wasn't as sad as I thought it would be leaving our house because we've done this before. We didn't leave as soon as I had hoped (and I managed to only blast Carl once...sorry honey), but once we tossed stuff in bags, we had time for a few pictures. I realized that Wednesday marked 13 months for Asha, so I won't ramble on any more about packing and moving.

So this month, Asha finally got more teeth! The day after her first birthday, one top tooth popped out, then the next day another one. Three days later the two molars in the back came, and the next day another tooth came. Last count this evening, 6 on the top and 3 on the bottom. That's a lot of enamel making it's entrance in 4 weeks. Poor gal!

She's been a real trooper and hasn't been too cranky. The only thing is you have to be a slick CIA agent to be able to see her teeth. Every time you ask her to show you her teeth, she does an exaggerated underbite (which is quite hilarious), which completely hides her top teeth. Carl didn't believe me that she actually had teeth until I hung her upside down and pried open her mouth.
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And though she seems close to walking, she still prefers to crawl. I wonder if she will take a few steps by Tuesday, just to warm the heart of her grandmas. Well, we'll see.

We have been reminded that she is fiercely possessive of her things and has mastered the art of temper tantrums if she doesn't get her way, or if her siblings get too close. She loves drinking out of a straw (sippie cups are so 12 months!) and her favourite drink is of course, a slurpee. And Asha's preferred activity is climbing, climbing on ANYTHING. We really have to watch her!

Well, it's late and I can't believe that I'm up this late blogging. It has been a tiring few days, but good days. I will blog and post more later, when I have time, which may not be until we leave the country. You may have to wait a bit to hear about our last days in Canada.

Packing

I think I have a slight obsession with sorting and organizing. It's not quite the same as Carl's, my method is a little more chaotic in his eyes. Generally I have my way of going through things, and it sometimes can annoy Carl because it's a bit messy, but I really think that's just a subjective way of looking at it!

A few days ago I stopped stalling and started to tackle the dreaded task of organizing my craft bin in the office. It took all of my will to stay on task, and I'm sorry to say that I didn't quite get to the office bin still from Fresno full of paper clips, cards, erasers, stickers, pens, index cards, old glasses, highlighters.....I'm thinking those things don't need to be sorted and I'm just going to dump it all in one bin and label it Office Misc. (which I know will bug Carl to consider that packing!).

Anyways, I made my little craft piles in the office, which probably just looked like I dumped out the entire bin on the floor. First I organized into paper and stamp equipment. Then I rearranged it and organized into sub categories; used paper stuff and new paper and equipment - big and small. Ah, then I rearranged again, and then again, and again. I don't know why I do this. Finally after 45 minutes, I still had piles but I needed to do something else, so I closed the door and left. That's how I deal with it. The next day Kezia looked over at the mess and said to me, "Mom, it looks like you'll have to clean this mess up yourself. No one helped you make it, so you can't expect anyone else to clean up after you." Such true words coming from my three year old. Sigh.

So I got on my hands and knees, put things in piles, just once, and then packed some in my suitcase and some back into the craft bins. It only took 8 minutes. And it was real packing, not just dumping and ignoring.

Right now I'm feeling pretty proud of myself and not overwhelmed at what still needs to get done. I'm glancing at my to-do list and see that all but 3 things are checked off and there's a warm pleasant feeling in my heart. Oh, I love completed lists.

I realize that maybe this packing thing is coming easier now because we did this last year. I look back and think, Man, we were crazy! Seven years of collecting stuff, three kids, and sorting stuff to stay, stuff to go, stuff to purge, all with a 2 year old pooping in the flower beds, a 4 year old weeping at the sight of a suitcase, and a 2 week old baby....But God got us through and though I'd never do THAT again, I guess it did prepare us for our future adventure.

So with only 5 more sleeps in our house and 12 more on the continent, I think we're doing okay. We all are working through what is coming for our family in our own way; sometimes it's manageable and other times it takes a bit more to process. There are days when I think everything is going hunky dory, and then issues (totally unrelated to us moving, ARG!) come up that weigh heavy on my heart, and yet, the packing still has to happen. The meals still need to be made, the kids need love and reassurance and play time more than ever, the list still has a few more things to check off.

But that's life right now. I sometimes wonder what normal people are doing right now. The ones that are sending their kids to school in 10 days, having company over next weekend, who are just going on with life, grocery shopping, buying a new computer, arguing with the neighbours. What does that feel like? What do you do if you aren't packing and sorting? I really can't remember.

Soon this packing will be done. Soon we'll be unpacking somewhere else, and part of me is so looking forward to unpacking and settling. Not just for a few months, or weeks, but for a long while. That will feel so good and weird all at the same time.

Heppner Weekend

We Heppner family usually get together for one weekend in August to spend time together. This past weekend was our annual gathering. Some years we've gone camping, rented a cabin, or stayed in a hotel, but this year, we all stayed in Steinbach.

On Saturday we headed to the farm and had a waffle brunch before heading out to the pond. I did my little pop bottle and menthos demo for the kids, and it worked really well. They thought it was pretty cool. We swam in the water and jumped off the diving board; the weather was gorgeous. For supper we had a scrumptious chicken bbq and then Sam and Mom's birthday cake. The rest of the evening was spent playing games and visiting.

The next morning, we had brunch and then had a sharing and prayer time for us. That was meaningful. We realized that this weekend would probably be the last time we are all together until after we return from Bolivia.

By lunch our family gathering was officially over, but Mom wasn't aware that we had planned a surprise 60th birthday party for her that afternoon. It wasn't until about a dozen people showed up that she realized it was a party for her. She was so surprised (and me even more than we could pull the wool over her eyes; she's pretty hard to catch off guard) and she felt honored. That was the best.

We had the opportunity to take some familiy pictures before kids started to get too tired. But by 7:00 it was time to head home and rest up from the great weekend.

Celebrate Asha - Part II

So here are the coveted pictures that I promised you from Asha's birthday. Her uncle John took some amazing pictures (the cake ones are priceless), and I am posting them for you to enjoy!

Who would have thunked it

On Thursday I happened to be browsing in a thrift shop (which I shouldn't be doing because so many things call out to me to be bought), but really I was waiting for the crowded store next door to empty so I could buy some sandals. While I was walking around, the shopkeeper of the store on the other side, came up to me and asked, "Hey, do you want to be on T.V.?" "Sure," I said. I didn't tell her that I had experience with this before and that she'd be glad that I could volunteer!

So my job was to walk around her store, pick up the items and pretend I was buying things. She really did want me to buy something so I tried to look genuinely interested. It was funny because the cameraman kept asking me to pick an item off the shelf and look at it. "No, can you do it again, just a bit slower. Okay....that's great....now bring the soap up to your nose and smell it and smile,". It was quite funny.

I was quite pleased with my acting skills. Ha! How funny am I? I asked the guy what it was for and he told me it was for a show on CBC called Living Winnipeg. The only thing is that
the show will be on the air in October and we'll be gone already. Sigh. So I'll have to watch my Canadian acting debut online.

So I got to thinking, maybe I should move to Hollywood....those TV cameras just love me. Oh the career choices!

But then on Friday, I had the grandest opportunity to assist my friend Tasha while she photographed a wedding. Actually, we started taking pictures at 11:30 a.m. while the bride was getting ready all the way until 5:30 when the wedding was done. Yes, I did say WE. Tasha brought this most amazing camera along for me to use with a lens almost as long as my arm and told me I could take pictures, focusing on small details. I was so tickled that she asked me to take pictures because I've never done this before "professionally". It was a fun day and I am just amazed at how talented Tasha is. She's taken maternity, newborn, baby, and family pictures of us and every time she comes up with even more beautiful pictures. She is VERY talented and it was a privilege to be able to tag along and help her. Tasha said it was too bad that I was moving away, or else it would be fun to have me assist her at more wedding shoots. Wow!
And so here's the dilemma, should I pursue acting or photography? Both are fun. Oh what to do? Well, maybe I'll save those careers for when we get back from South America!

Joel Goes to VBS

This last week, Joel and privilege of attending Vacation Bible School at our church; this year's theme was Power Lab. He was really looking forward to it. I decided a few months ago that I would like to help, so I was a station leader for the Cinema Science Lab.

Joel had a great time in his group, learning bible verses, singing songs, playing games, and of course eating the cool snacks. He did tell me a number of times on the way home that he loved it when I did cool stuff in my station (especially making the pop bottle blow up) and that he was thankful I brought him to VBS.

Sure, it was a busy week with him and I running off every day at 5:15 (or even later some days...) and then only home just before 9:00. He was very tired. And Carl stayed at home with the girls for 5 nights, which was fun and busy and frustrating and great all at the same time!

But after all was said and done, while watching the kids sing their hearts out, I was glad that we could be a part of this. Joel learned so much and I did too. Enjoy watching the praises to Him!
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Moving Story Time

For the last number of weeks, I have been reading the most amazing book to my kids. My friend Jaime recommended to me, saying that she had read it to her kids and it was so deep and both her and her children loved it.



It's called The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. It's a chapter book, with short, descriptive chapters, and every 7-10 pages is a picture. At first it was hard for the kids to listen without having pictures to look at, but I encouraged them to close their eyes and imagine the picture in their head (I taught 15 year olds that had no idea how to do this; how sad....). It worked, because Joel loved stopping and telling me what he thought someone or something would look like.

This past weekend, I was reading a part to the kids that was rather emotional. One of the characters in the book dies, and Edward is talking about how he feels hollow and broken inside. I stopped (so I wouldn't tear up so bad) and asked the kids what they thought that meant. Of course Edward is a china rabbit doll, so logically he is hollow inside and if you drop him, he'll be broken, but the kids didn't say anything like that. They saw him as a real person, just any other character in the book. Joel said Edward felt hollow because he had an ache in his body because he was sad, and Kezia said that he wasn't really broken, but that his heart was broken.

"Yeah, he was broken-hearted because _____ died", Joel explained.

"Do you know what it means to broken-hearted?", I asked them.

"Well, when we were going to Washington B.C (D.C.), and we were riding on the subway train, I was broken-hearted," Kezia shared.

"Why were you broken-hearted?", I asked her.

At this point, Joel has tears in his eyes.

"As we were on the train, my heart was broken, because I missed my friends," she told me.

And that's when I cried. I sat there with my kids, in someone else's house, processing the meaning of this book, and relating it so close to our lives. I knew it would be a stretching experience reading this book, but I had no idea the impact. I am floored at what is going on in my kids' heads, and am marveled that they could articulate it, and moved beyond words.

Joel's First Bomber Game

On the night that Kezia, Asha, and I went to the Paraguay pavilion, Carl and Joel went to a Bomber's football game.

We first had supper with Randy and Charlotte and their kids before the guys headed to the game. Joel was very excited because he had never been to a professional football game. Carl wore his Bomber shirt, but Joel just wore blue. I'm thinking he's got to get a Bomber shirt before we leave the country...

Joel did pretty well considering the game was almost 4 hours long. He got a bit restless towards hour three, but he was sitting with a little buddy of his, Zam (from Akron orientation) and so they entertained themselves for the remainder of the game.

When Joel got home at 10:30 he announced to me that it was a good game, a close game, but the French guys won. "Sigh, well, hope the guys do better next time, Mom." That's right, Joel, we sure hope they do better next time.

Folklorama

I think our city is amazing in that it has the largest multicultural festival in the world, Folklorama. It goes for 2 weeks and features over 44 different countries, each with their own pavilion. There isn't just one sight, no, there are twenty some venues across the city and for only a few bucks, gets you into a cultural show, with displays, and plenty of food. You'd have to be crazy not to go!

This past Friday, Kezia, Asha and I went to the Paraguay pavilion to see their little friends, Megan and Haley dance. Asha LOVED the music and bobbed back and forth. Kezia was awestruck with the dancers. She kept asking over and over when she could go to those dance classes. The show is only about 4o minutes, and there are 3 shows per night per pavilion, so we decided to drive to the Japanese pavilion a few blocks away. Kezia loved all the girls in their kimonos; she said they reminded her of her friend Shiki from Fresno.

So a few days later, we decided to make it a family event and go to a few more pavilions. We headed to the Brazilian pavilion for the 6:45 show and were expecting to wait in a LONG line. Two years ago, we waited for almost 2 hours because the show was so amazing (again, crazy not to go people!). But this year, I guess because it was the first night, the lines were manageable and we only had to wait 15 minutes. The show was great. Joel's favourite part was the Capoeira demonstration. Kezia loved the dancers of course, and Asha wasn't spooked by the drumming, no, she LOVED it. She bobbed and swayed and clapped her hands to the thundering drums for over 15 minutes. It was quite a experience for our kids.


And so after the Brazilian pavilion, we headed to the Indian pavilion. It's one of my favourites and I can't stand the idea of missing it. We had supper there, which our kids devoured. And they really enjoyed seeing the small children dance the traditional punjabi dances. But most of the items were infused with Bollywood music and choreography. I have to admit, there is something about that Bollywood music that just makes you want to get up and dance! One of the dancers came from the states and her name was Asha, so I picked up a few of her cards to toss into my Asha's memory box; it's not like we meet a lot of Asha's around.

So after the show, it was almost 9:30 and our kids were very tired, happy, but tired. They really enjoyed seeing all the shows, and I was reminded that it's so important to expose your kids to the richness of other cultures. It turned out to be a pretty good family outing.

Talk About Hilarious

Asha did this a few days ago and I just about doubled over from laughter. Watch for the flying noodle and the hamming it up when she gets an audience. Man, this girl is FUNNY! Thanks Asha for making my day.
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Blessed Projects

Carl and I love doing projects around our house. Now, that being said, it has at times been stressful having things that have to get done on the house when life is so busy. We enjoyed purchasing a home that needed a bit of work and over the last 7 years of homeownership, have painted, plastered, renovated, removed, and improved almost every surface of our house. But over the last year, we had no projects to work on, living in a rented apartment, and Carl's workload only included the academic. So once we got back to our house, we were itching to do something handy.

My passion is to paint. I love going to the paint store, picking a colour, and then coming home and painting. It's like everything is fresh and new again. I don't really like the prep work of taping or laying down tarps, but Carl reminded me just a few days ago, "You may have painted every surface of this house, but they way you paint, you'd better invest in some preventative measures". So, I'm a little messy?

We painted the living room and dining room, entrance and landing, and upstairs hall. The paint colours didn't change much; I wasn't feeling like experimenting at this point. And I always love writing messages on the wall before I paint. There's a message in every room that I painted, and only I know what they are!

Carl finally replaced the weather stripping on the front door and painted it. Plus we replaced garage windows. Those things needed to be done years ago, but other things came up over the last 7 years!

It feels good to do some things around the house to prepare for it to be rented. It feels good to take care of your house, it's nice to have a distraction from all the packing and paperwork. Sure, it seems crazy of us to add more work onto our busy lives, but I think for Carl and I, it's therapy.

Church Celebration

The long weekend marked our church's 40th anniversary. It was a weekend filled with reminiscing, food, worship, and of course lots of visiting. On the Saturday evening, we had a feast of a dinner, and then moved upstairs for a service where all the associate pastors shared. Some shared funny stories and memories, others talked about highlights in their ministry, some shared touching stories that made many of us cry.

The next morning, all the former lead pastors shared. Talk about a risk, having 7 pastors get up to share in 5-7 minutes. But most held their time limit and had lots of great things to share. Asha was especially squirmy and I was really hoping that she would last until Carl got up to speak. I was proud of Joel and Kezia that they sat relatively still for over an hour. I have to admit, I was really looking forward to Carl speaking. Sure, it was only for a few minutes, but I have really missed hearing him speak up at the front. I may be biased, but he is in my top 5 of best preachers I've ever heard. And this particular morning he made me proud. He spoke about how the church took a step of faith first accepting him as a young intern, then as a young associate pastor, and then a young lead pastor.

He spoke about how our church allows the young people to exercise their gifts within the congregation, even if the end result isn't perfect. And then I realized how blessed we were to be lead pastors in that church. We were given so much room to grow and develop, so much grace when we made mistakes. During our 8 years, I don't remember a time when we felt like things were going sour. It made me teary eyed to think that our time in leadership in this church has passed. It's like moving out of the house when you graduate from high school. Sure, you could stay longer, but eventually the time will come to move on and let someone else take your coveted bedroom in the house. We finished our time as lead pastors last year to move out to Fresno and start another chapter of our lives. We grew and changed and the doors opened for us to now move on to Bolivia with MCC. A part of me wondered what life would be like now if we hadn't gone last year at all. Would we be glad that we stayed? Would we be burned out from ministry? What would the church look like with us still in leadership?

And so after the lunch, after all the visiting, I was glad to go home and have a long nap. So many people and so much talking and so much food makes one very tired! I think I was also tired from thinking about our time in ministry and reflecting on how it impacted our lives. I have to say it was one of the richest times in our lives, for both Carl and I, and especially for our kids. Sure, there were days where I was fed up with what we were doing, but in the end, I look back and thank God for the opportunity to serve in that capacity. We grew a lot, and we made some amazing friends. And the best part of us moving on with MCC is that we still have all those friends in our church who will be praying for us and supporting us. Though we are gone for a time, we don't have to say goodbye, they are still our church family. And that's one good reason to celebrate.

Day at the Lake

This past Thursday our family spent the day with my parents, brothers, aunt and uncle and cousins at our family cabin. The forecast was for rain and clouds, so Carl packed jackets and games and we resigned ourselves to a day inside. But when we arrived, the sun was out and the weather was gorgeous. So we all hit the lake!

We spent most of the morning and into the afternoon waterskiing, tubing, kneeboarding, riding in the boat and playing in the water and sand. We only took a 45 minute break to eat some lunch. It was so much fun. And it was kind of neat because exactly one year before, we came out to the cabin with Asha when she was only 4 days old. This time she was big enough to sit in the sand and play.

The kids had a great time by the water and it was so relaxing to sit and visit and play. By 7 o'clock we headed back to the cabin and made a feast of a dinner. Yum! Afterwards, we built a fire and had s'mores. I just love being out at the cabin, it's refreshing to be outside, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, away from the cares and responsibilities we have right now. We just sat and spent time playing and being with family.

By 10:00 we all packed up and headed back home. What a glorious day.
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My Brave Kids

On Tuesday we all were scheduled for a doctor's appointment. I was looking forward to it because I think our doctor is great and I knew he and his receptionist would be excited about seeing our kids.

The night before I had gone to an amazing Pampered Chef party at Andrea's place and tried to pack in all the snacks I could before 8:30 p.m. because I had to fast for 14 hours before my Dr. appointment. Oops! Well, I hope she understood why I was so aggressive in the food line, "hurry up, it's 8:26!!!"

We arrived on time to our appointment in the morning, but I realized that I forgot to prepare Joel for getting yet another needle. He was pretty ticked off about being poked again; I could hear him yelling in the next room. Thankfully our family was the only one in the Dr's office. After our physicals and a nice quick chat with our Dr. and receptionist, we said our goodbyes and headed down the hall for blood work. We knew that both Carl and I would have to have needles to draw out blood, but we were just thinking that the kids would need a pin prick to the finger. Boy, we were wrong.....

We sat in the waiting room, ignorant of what was about to happen. The kids played happily on the floor while people smiled at them. What sweet kids! Our number was called and then we were herded into a back room. The lab technician took our forms, glanced at them and asked us who was first. Carl inquired about what would happen for the kids and the lab tech. said that all of us, including the little baby would need to have blood drawn for at least two tubes. You could tell he wasn't looking forward to doing that and by the look on our faces, it was the same, times ten. Joel and Kezia's eyes went wide and I quickly crouched down to Joel to explain what was going to happen. He said over and over, "You didn't tell me this was what we were here for! I really, REALLY don't want to do this,". I told him that I wasn't keen on the idea either, but that we needed to do it in order for us to make sure his blood was healthy. Carl and I quickly made the decision to have Joel go first, with me, so that he wouldn't continue to freak out.

He sat on my lap, crying and hollering, "I don't want to do this, REALLY," until the needle went in and he realized that it didn't hurt, so he stopped and just looked at the tube filling with his blood. Kezia was peering in, despite Carl's attempts to keep her away, watching wide eyed at the whole thing. After it was done, Joel lay against me and said it wasn't too bad. So I put on a brave face and went next. I HATE needles and I didn't really want to do this, but I was strong to set a good example.

Next was Kezia, with Carl, and as soon as she was led into the room, started to cry. She wasn't crying because she wasn't sure what was going on, no, she was crying because she knew exactly what was going to happen. It was heartbreaking to see her look at me as Carl sat her on his lap and held her arm still. But again, as soon as the needle went in, she stopped crying, wiped her tears with her free hand and just stared at her arm. Afterwards, she hopped off Carl's lap and told Joel that she only cried just a little bit when her blood was sucked out.

Carl went, no incident.

And then there was Asha.

I knew she would be angry at me since I stood there and watched as the mean lady punctured her ear lobes the Friday before. And ever since then I've been pinning her down to douse her ears in this substance that is cold and wet. I am not in her good books. So it was decided I would hold her down.

The lab technician looked a bit nervous and when I asked him if they have young babies in here, he said hardly ever. He gulped and got the butterfly needle. The other technician joined him to help find Asha's vein and by this time she was yelling at the top of her lungs. I'm sure it was quite upsetting for those poor souls waiting in the waiting room, waiting for their turn to be slaughtered.

The first attempt at finding a vein was in vain because Asha squirmed too much. So yet another tech came and replaced the nervous guy to put the needle in her other arm. I held her on my lap, one tech held her legs, one held her arm steady and the new lady tech talked soothingly to Asha as she gently slid the needle into her arm. By this time I was almost in tears and Asha was screaming like I'd never heard her scream before. Almost immediately the tube of red caught Asha's attention and she stopped crying and just watched the tube fill up, and quite quickly since her blood pressure was through the roof.

And then it was over and we all got our fancy round band-aids for our arms. As we exited the lab, we got an eternity of sympathy looks from those that were still waiting for their turn. Kezia immediately asked what kind of treat we were getting today, "Probably donuts," I told her. And Joel asked if he ever had to have another needle again. Well...."Maybe when I'm 14 or not until I'm 18 or if I'm really lucky, maybe not until I'm 35". I hate to break it to him that we have to go for another round of needles in 10 days....Maybe I'll bring the donuts and the Happy Meals and the pop along with us to the travel clinic.